1 First Contact

In the fleshy walls of the human body lay the foundation of life. Here was a speck of living matter, floating lifelessly as the fluids around him pushed his body down an endless abyss. There was no movement to speak of. Silence was heard on his body. The liquid carried him down a large, flesh lined tunnel. His body was being tossed about and crashing against walls of muscle and tissue. His large white head bearing the brunt of the pressure as he was rushing down to the great unknown. Liquid continuously flowed down his body and tail and gently sliding off. His body re-oriented itself from the pressure and continued down the tunnel…

A few breaths later, he made initial contact with an unknown entity. Their bodies crashed into each other. His large white head collided with something of similar stature. His tail flew sideways and got tangled with something along the way. His head became clear and he began to wake up. He could feel that something was wrapping around him, trying to strangle the life out of him. The more he struggled the more tangled up he became.He tried moving his own tail but he was still not breaking free. He tried squiggling his way out of this, but the more he struggled the more frustrated he became. The wrapping sensation became tighter and it was only then when the tip of their tails touched together.

"It hurts. It's okay, it's just me."

Astonished from what he heard or maybe by what he felt. He became still.

"I'm just like you. Just hold on a minute, I'm going to teach you a little trick."

A brilliant flash of energy came from the unknown entity's head traveling down the entity's tail to meet with his own. Knowledge came rushing up his tail, down into the recesses of his head.

"What the hell was that!" When he spoke it was like a thought that vibrated the surrounding space until the vibration was felt by another.

"I just taught you how to speak and you're welcome. My name is Tamo what's yours?"

Mato not wanting to be seen as stupid replied, "My name is Mato…" He knew he blatantly copied Tamo's name but shifted a few things around. He didn't know what to do. This was his first time even knowing what a name was.

"Hold on a moment, before we continue talking let's get out of this tangled mess." Tamo motioned her head, pointing toward their tails that were stuck together.

Mato agreed and instantly started moving his tail like an out of control hose.

"HOLD YOUR HORSES! Open your eyes and do it carefully!" Shouted Tamo who seemed to be in severe pain.

"What's a horse? And eyes? What are eyes" Mato replied?

"They are tiny slits where light comes out of so you can see," Tamo replied smugly.

Mato went still and concentrated. Lifelike energy could be felt moving around his head, searching for the so-called source of eyes. It scanned the deeper recesses of his head while slowly moving outwards until he found two slits, located in the front of his head. The light started to congregate where those two slits were located until the light couldn't be held anymore and burst out of these two slits!

"I can see something!" Mato shouted exuberantly.

The light was continuously being emitted and reflected back into Mato's eye slits, becoming a clearer picture as he slowly adjusted to the change. What was facing Mato was a tadpole-like creature but extremely white. White like the finest of ivories. Mato edged himself closer, crossing his eyes over Tamo's body.

We are very similar. The only difference is that Tamo is slightly smaller than I am. Tamo does have a longer tail though. Mato saw he was very similar compared to Tamo when Mato examined his own body, he found his body was pulsing with fluid enabling his body to move around. This fluid seemed to be glowing with a white radiance. While Tamo did have the same fluid flowing around inside her body, it wasn't as radiant as Matos. Light could be seen shining through his skin like a lamp. While Tamo's barely emitted a glow.

His membrane on the outer layer of his head and tail seemed to be opening in and out. Like it was a mammal breathing in the air. Each breath he took sucked in nutrients from the surrounding liquid. Taking in the nutrients from the liquid and bolstering his physique.

"I could find you in this darkness because your body was shining so brightly," Tamo said.

Mato started to look around at his surroundings, finding they were floating within a flesh-like tube. Where rushing liquid was pushing them towards a seemingly infinite pathway.

"I guess the only option we have now is to see what is at the end of this path."

Mato flexed his tail which propelled him forward.

Tamo quietly nodded her head and started to swim after Mato.

"Do you know any more abilities?" Mato had a deep respect for Tamo. He was just born recently and he did not know of anything to speak of. Currently, he was a student being taught by his teacher.

"No. I only woke up a few moments after you." Tamo replied casually.

"Then how come you knew how to talk, while I didn't?"

Where did she get this knowledge and how come I didn't have it.

"I'm not sure myself. It was just something I knew." Tamo herself was mystified by the knowledge. She knew the knowledge but she didn't know where it came from.

"Interesting…" Mato was deeply impressed by Tamo. They were born roughly at the same time but she knew so much more. What other abilities might she have?

Maybe I have some abilities I don't know about….

Mato and Tamo kept swimming. Following the flow of the liquid.

Both couldn't help but examine their surroundings. Surrounding them was a large, open passageway. The light shining through their eyes was bouncing off the flesh like walls, illuminating the surrounding space.

Mato couldn't help being impressed. It was like seeing the sun for the very first time. Your senses get overloaded.

Suddenly both of them felt a large vibration coming from up ahead touch their bodies.

"Did you feel that?" Mato creased his eyes seemingly confused. An unknown sensation came from inside of his head.

"Yes. I think something happened up ahead." Tamo replied.

"Yeah. But I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about that feeling coming from your head.?" Mato had an inkling that it might be similar to the 'knowledge" Tamo was talking about.

"It feels like it's telling me to be careful that something dangerous might be up ahead."

They slowly swam forward, making sure to be careful of anything they didn't know about.

Lights could be seen, frantically flashing each possible way to make sure that nothing would sneak up on them. This was their first time feeling this sense of 'danger' they couldn't help but be cautious.

As they moved closer to the disturbance up ahead, Mato stopped.

"Do you feel that buzzing noise coming from up ahead. It seems like the closer we get, the louder it becomes."

The feeling coming from inside of Mato's head was gradually increasing, warning him that he will meet with danger soon enough.

As they moved forward, they felt the liquid around them seem to slow down. Something up ahead was blocking it.

Intrigued by this matter Tamo and Mato cautiously swam forwards, probing with their submarine light eyelids to see what was in front of them.

Beams of light could be seen reflecting off of the fleshy walls to expose a collection of capsule-like creatures. Long strands of pili could be seen dangling in the surrounding liquid. Their flagellum making them move in consort with the rushing liquid.

There were hundreds of these creatures all grouped together. Some of the creatures were floating silently in the water, while the majority of them were in a large clump, attached to the nearby wall. The surrounding wall was decaying, the youthful flesh was now a decrepit grey, losing the vigor of its life.

Mato pointed his flashlight like eyes in their direction. The creatures were smaller than him but they were numerous. The creatures were a shiny, metallic green which showcased its exceptional hardness. Occasional spikes jutted out of their green armour like bodies. There seemed to be a hundred of them.

"What are those things? " Tamo questioned.

"Let's try to stay away from those things. Something feels off." Mato tried to suppress the feeling coming from his mind but it was becoming unbearable. He wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.

Mato tensely led the way. While Tamo followed him shortly from behind. The surrounding tunnel was vast but the creatures blocked the majority of the way. There were only a few tiny spaces from where they could get through.

As they got closer, they saw the big lump of creatures more closely. The number of creatures seemed to get larger from the time that it took to swim forward. These creatures that were grouped together were duplicating at an astonishing rate.

Mato seemed to pick up on the danger of vast numbers, but when he looked at Tamo, he couldn't say that she did.

They were almost through to one of the entrances when one of the nearby creatures noticed Mato.

"Vroom…Looim…Nviim!"

Unintelligible vibrations came from the foreign creature, as it tried to communicate.

Tamo swam forward hoping to greet the creature.

"Hello. I'm Tamo. If you don't know how to talk I can teach you?" Tamo felt it no different to approach this creature than when she approached Mato. Are the two of them so different?

The creature responded by rearing its body and swimming forward so that one of its spikes would penetrate into Tamo.

"Crawm!"

The creature was a wild beast, easily provoked to fight!

Tamo tried to flee but it was too late. One of the creatures spike's was nearing and about to enter into her frail body.

At this point, Mato's head flared up.That feeling from before was returning. That feeling became vibrations, which then those vibrations turned into words.

FIGHT!

The inside of Mato's head felt like it was exploding.Mato went into a rage! He swam forward, sprinting with all of his might to meet up with the beast. He flexed his tail to the extreme and shot forth like a bullet! The liquid around him was pressing against him, trying to stop him from moving forward, but it only trailed behind his tail that was wiggling back and forth.

Mato met up with one of the creatures and smashed his head against its body, sending its body flying before it had the chance to touch Tamo.

"TAMO! Get away from these things. They're dangerous!" Mato shouted in urgency.

Tamo with clear liquid starting to fall from her eyes replied, "Okay…"

Tamo retreated while Mato prepared for another attack. He couldn't help but examine his injuries from his last attack.

Small tears had appeared on the head of his brow, exposing his inner flesh.

When he tackled the creature, he managed to avoid most of the larger spikes but he couldn't avoid it's smaller ones.

As Mato was thinking, the spiked creature recovered and sprinted toward Mato in retaliation.

The creature was enraged. Once again it aimed one of its larger spikes toward the direction of Mato. Mato retreated back into safety, in front of the fleshy wall.

"I have to think of a plan. Normal brute force won't be able to take this guy down." Mato was calm, the sense of anxiety that was coming from his head had ended. What replaced it, was thoughts of taking down his opponent.

The creature made his way to Mato, his large spike moving the liquid around him like a bullet.

Slink!

Mato deftly dodged upward, allowing the creatures spike to be embedded into the flesh wall.

The creature was stuck. It tried to break free from the wall but the momentum in that last attack made it so that it would take a few moments for it to break free!

Mato wouldn't freely give this creature those few moments.

Mato burst off with a sprint but this time he approached the creature from an angle. He extended his tail and wrapped it forcefully over the capsules body, careful to make sure his tail didn't get impaled by the spikes

Mato swam around it until his whole tail was covered around the capsules body. He flexed his tail compressing the creature's whole body and constricting its movement. Like a snake, Mato was increasing the force being applied to its body.

NEEEIIIM!

Frail cries of help came from the creature. His body thrashing about trying to break free. His screams could be seen vibrating throughout the liquid but it was too late.

Mato's tail was like a vice clamped onto wood. He kept contracting his tail, gradually increasing the pressure.

Like a bursting bubble, the creatures hard shell cracked unto the pressure.

POP!

The creature exploded into a vision of gore. Bits and pieces of its green exoskeleton could be seen floating in the surrounding liquid. Its green flesh was mangled and barely holding together.

Larger pieces of its flesh could be seen still attached to parts of its skin. This creature should be dead.

Mato let go of the body of the creature, letting it float away in the liquid.

As the dead creature's body was floating away. A dense strand of white light remained.

Mato inched his way forward hoping to examine that white light.

What he saw was a strand of pure white flesh. It seemed to radiate with an unearthly, white glow. That it would give power to the one who would possess it.

Mato's head started vibrating again, but this time it did not tell him to fight.

CONSUME!

Mato couldn't help but stare enviously at this piece of flesh.

Mato opened the tip of his tail towards this piece of flesh. Sucking it into his body. Like a snake eating its meal, the piece of flesh was being dissolved by the inner fluids of his body, transforming into a purer type of nourishment.

Life Energy!

This life energy was like water, but as water was clear, life energy was white.

The white life energy traveled up his tail, into his head where it met up with his nucleus. His nucleus looks like a black miniaturized brain, seated in the center of his body. The life energy moved toward his nucleus, and like a pond started to surround it.

The black nucleus and the white life energy started reacting with one another. Arcs of unearthly light started to appear near his nucleus and started to spread throughout his body.

His body responded by taking the life energy and using it to repair his body.

Mato's muscles were constantly pulsing with life energy, sending it forth to the different parts of his body. His inner muscles became like firm tofu, as his body became stronger. His outer skin beamed with a bright light then died off as the wounds from the previous battle were being healed.

White strands of energy could be seen repairing all of the damage done when facing the green creature. His wounds that were exposed from the creature's spikes, were filled up and it looked as if he didn't even have a battle.

The life energy continued to flow throughout his body. His outer membrane seemed to get to brighter, as some of the life energy radiated off of his body.

"This feels incredible!" Mato couldn't help but wonder what kind of secrets this life energy may hold. It had the ability to heal wounds and nurture his body. It was a miraculous ability.

While Mato was busy admiring the effects of the life energy. The creatures began to notice something was amiss. One of their brothers had died and his flesh was still lingering in the area. It would only be a matter of time until these blind fools caught on.

The large clump of monsters could feel Mato's hostile presence. Their bodies started to shake in discomfort at the thought of one of their brothers being killed.

One of its brethren has been killed. This was an enemy that needed to be respected.

The clump of monsters seemed to shuffle about and get looser. One by one the space between each creature became larger, expanding to make room for whatever was hiding inside.

The clump of monsters was separating in order to make space for the thing that they were protecting in the middle. Shouts of anguish were sent out into the surrounding space but what remained inside the clump of monsters stood silent.

In the middle of the clump of monsters, looked to be the king of these green monsters. He was ten times larger than the average green creature and his spikes reflected that. Even with his robust body he still seemed to be afraid of Mato. He looked at Mato with worry, as Mato was shining with the radiance of a star.

Mato turned his head to the creature. What Mato saw was two pairs of beady, black eyes, staring right back at him. These eyes seemed to be so black that they seemed to suck in the surrounding light. Dissimilar from Mato and Tamo's eyes, which emitted light.

"I am bacteria! Today you will die!" The king of bacteria communicated.

This creature was awestruck by Mato's glowing stature, he had never seen anything like this before.He was worried that this thing might be a threat to him so he ordered the other bacteria to attack!

The bacteria knew Mato was a threat. Like animals protecting their territory, they had to fight! But the bacteria were scared! One of their brothers were killed!

Even without eyes, they could feel the terrifying presence of Mato.

Mato was the like a resplendent sun before desolate planets. He would either offer life or death!

Having been ordered by their king, the bacteria set off to kill Mato.

Mato was calm. The life energy was finished circulating throughout his body and his whole body had been transformed. His skin became sleeker and his muscles got tougher but he wasn't sure this was enough. He got the feeling that if he collected more life energy he could become even stronger.

A terrible hunger began to sprout in Mato's mind.

"Come here!" Mato thoughts went out the window and he acted on instinct alone. Mato flew like a fish in water, chasing the nearest spike creature.

Mato flexed his tail in preparation to attack the creature but instead pointed his tail like a spear towards the creature's body.

His outer membrane had hardened. His tail became tough like steel. Like a cris, his tail was wiggling in rapid motions but still having a pointed edge.

"SLINK!"

Mato's tail stabbed straight into the creature's body aiming for the white energy inside.

Mato's tail was like a stake stabbing through a watermelon.

Green liquid came gushing out of the entry wound. It's body trying to resist Mato's tail from getting any deeper but it was hopeless. The creature had been brutally stabbed by Mato and having his white energy taken away, it lifelessly drifted to the side.

"Success!" Mato drunk off of his new power smiled.

"More! I need more." Mato was getting addicted to this power. He was like a man in the desert who has just seen the oasis.

With this power, I can do anything!

Mato could feel the life energy further nurturing him, making the exterior of his body harder. Mato was an addict looking for his next fix!

"DIE!DIE!DIE!DIE!"

Mato once again took off to the nearest creature repeating the same process but even faster than before.His skin was becoming tougher. A sheen could be seen coming off his skin, showing it to be becoming metallic-like, allowing the liquid surrounding him to streak off his body with minimal resistance.

The creatures were now enraged. Another one of their brothers had just tied. With their animal pack mentality, they started to swarm to Mato hoping to overpower and harm him.

But Mato was like a bird in the sky, a fish in the ocean, he weaved through the oncoming horde and stabbed into one of the creatures. He took their life energy and bounced off.

He repeated this process each time narrowly missing the charges of the creatures.

Mato stabbed another creature of his tail and then ricocheted off his body, while still taking the life energy with him. He was moving so fast the creatures had no time to react. No creature could stop him.

Once the creatures got to his current location, Mato's abrupt change of direction made it hard for them to keep up.

Mato was like a pinball bouncing off every creature while stealing their cores.

5…7...8…..12….

Mato was keeping track of the creatures he slain. Life energy was extremely beneficial for him. He needed more of them. He wanted to see how far he could go.

Their numbers were dwindling. Even with their reproductive abilities, Mato was killing them at twice the rate of which they can duplicate.

Tamo was watching from the sidelines and couldn't believe what was happening before her eyes.

Bewildered, Tamo said, "What is he planning to do? Kill them all?"